Battery connection plate and a manufacturing method therefor

ABSTRACT

A battery connection plate a manufacturing method therefor is provided. A terminal  5  and a busbar  9  are insert-molded in the plate body  2.  The terminal  5  is screw-connected to an electrode of a battery with a nut. The terminal  5  is provided with a hole portion and a projecting portion having an opening communicating with the hole portion, and the opening faces in the screwing direction of the nut. Otherwise, the plate body  2  is provided with a pin portion and projections arranged on both sides of the pin portion, and the terminal is provided with a through hole for the pin portion. The projections are positioned adjacently to both sides of the terminal, and the terminal is secured to the plate body  2  by melting the pin portion and the projections and by transforming them. The terminal body is formed integrally with the busbar  9  with use of a metal sheet, and the busbar  9  is formed by double-folding back the metal sheet, wherein the terminal body is connected to the busbar through a narrow portion. The plate body  2  is provided with a pair of guide walls  51,52  having respective slit-like insertion-fixing portions  53,54  to receive the electric wire connected to the terminal  5,  and a groove portion  56  for arranging the electric wires is formed between the guide walls.

This application is a divisional of prior application Ser. No.09/572,252 filed May 17, 2000.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to a battery connection plateand more particularly to a battery connection plate and a manufacturingmethod therefor wherein a busbar for connecting batteries in series anda terminal for voltage detection are insert-molded in a plate body madeof synthetic resin.

2. Description of the Related Art

FIG. 11 shows a conventional battery connection plate.

Battery connection plates 70,71 are provided at both ends of a batteryset 72 and connect batteries 73 in series, which battery connectionplates 70,71 have a plurality of conductive metal busbars 75 in parallelon an oblong plate body 74 made of synthetic resin.

The busbar 75 has a pair of through holes 78 for connecting electrodes76,77, each having a male thread, of the neighboring two batteries 73and is fixed to the plate body 74 by means of pressing-insertion,insert-molding, or the like. Each of electrodes 76,77 istightly-connected with a nut 79 to the busbar 75.

A busbar 83 having one through hole 82 is fixed to both ends of thebattery connection plate 70, and both the electrodes 76, 77 of thebattery 73 arranged at the both ends of the battery set 72 are connectedthrough each of busbars 83 to respective power feeders (not illustrated)each having a terminal.

A cover 80 is pivotably provided on the plate body 74, and the busbars75,83, electrodes 76,77 and nuts 79 are protected inside anaccommodating portion 81 by closing the cover 80.

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing another example of aconventional battery connection plate. In this battery connection plate85, a terminal 86 for voltage detection is provided on each of twoneighboring batteries (not illustrated). The terminal 86 isinsert-molded in a plate body 88 made of synthetic resin along with thebusbar 87. The busbar 87 is surface-connected to a tabular electricallycontacting portion 89 provided at the end of the terminal 86, electronicparts (not illustrated) such as a circuit protection element, e.g. fuse,is soldered to a middle portion 101 of the terminal 86, and a signalline 90 is pressure-welded to a base portion of the terminal 86.

Reference numeral 87 designates a busbar with two holes, 91 designates abusbar with one hole, and 92 designates a power feeder with a terminal.The terminal 86 for voltage detection is arranged inside a frontcircular hole 93 of the plate body 88 along with the busbar 87. Theabove electronic parts (not illustrated) at the middle portion 101 ofthe terminal 86 is arranged inside an intermediate framed portion 94.The signal line 90 bends in a right angle from a framed portion 95 andis laid inside a short groove portion 96. The power feeder 92 is laidinside another short groove portion 97. 98 designates a pivotable coverwhich is locked to the plate body 88 by locking means 99,100.

As shown in FIG. 14, a small hole 106 is provided on the electricallycontacting portion 89 side and on the wire connecting portion 105 sideof the terminal 86 for voltage detection. As show in FIG. 15, resin 113enters the small holes 106 at the insert-molding, and the terminal 86 issecured. In FIG. 14, a pair of small holes 108 for connecting anelectronic parts 107 is provided on the middle portion 101 of theterminal 86, lead terminals 109 of the electronic parts 107 are insertedinto the small holes 108 and soldered. In case that the electronic parts107 is of a circuit protection element, the middle portion 101 of theterminal 86 is cut off between the lead terminals 109. As is shown inFIG. 16, a male-threaded electrode 110 of the battery (not illustrated)is inserted into the through holes 104 of the busbar 87 and the terminal86 and tightly-connected to the busbar 87 with a nut 111 by means of atool 112 in an arrow Z1 direction.

With respect to the above a conventional structure, however, as shown inFIG. 16, when the electrically contacting portion 89 of the terminal 86is tightened with the nut 111 the an arrow Z1 direction, big torque onthe terminal 86 causes securing force of the terminal 86 to be weakened,whereby the terminal 86 slips off, gets rickety, and damages the platebody 88. Further, this gives bad influence on the electronic parts 107(FIG. 14) connected to the middle portion of the terminal 86. If thesmall hole 106 (FIG. 14) is modified to a larger one to avoid the abovedrawback, cross-sectional area of the terminal 86 decreases, therebyincreasing electric resistance of the terminal 86 and reducingmechanical strength thereof.

And, as shown in FIG. 13, though positioning of the busbar 87 can bedone at the insert-molding thereof, positioning of the terminal 86 forvoltage detection is difficult because the terminal 86 is narrow andlong. Also, when the terminal 86 and the busbar 87 are set in the metalmold 102 or when the insert-molded product is taken out of the metalmold 102, there would be a danger that an operator touches the hot metalmold 102 and gets scalded, thereby bringing about bad workability andhigh manufacturing cost.

Further, in the battery connection plate 85 (FIG. 12), because at leasttwo kinds of parts, namely the busbar 87 and the terminal 86 for voltagedetection, are insert-molded at the same time, a lot of man-days isrequired for a preparation stage of the insert-molding, andsimultaneously works are complicated because of many kinds of and anumber of number of parts.

If the terminal 86 for voltage detection and the busbar 87 areintegrated so as to reduce the number of parts, heat radiation andelectric resistance varies according to the shape because the busbar 87acts to radiate heat from the battery. Because range for electric wiresconnectable to the terminal 86 for voltage detection depends on materialand shape of the terminal 86, it has been difficult to integrate theterminal 86 with the busbar 87. In case that the same material is used,a terminal 114 for voltage detection has to be thinner than a busbar 113form viewpoint of heat radiation and electric resistance, as shown inFIG. 17, which causes high cost.

Otherwise, in case that the terminal 86 is insert-molded in the platebody 88 after the electric wire 90 (FIG. 12) is pressure-welded to theterminal 86, positioning of the terminal 86 is difficult because aplurality of electric wires 90 get tangled, thereby causing badworkability of the insert-molding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is toprovide a battery connection plate and a manufacturing method thereforwherein securing force of a terminal being integrally insert-molded in aplate body made of moldable and insulative material such as syntheticresin is strengthened, workability of positioning the terminal at theinsert-molding is enhanced, and further workability of theinsert-molding is also enhanced by preventing electric wires frombecoming tangled at the insert-molding.

In order to achieve the above-described object, as a first aspect of thepresent invention, a battery connection plate comprises: a plate body tobe insulative and moldable; and a terminal to be insert-molded in theplate body and to be screw-connected to an electrode of a battery,wherein the terminal is provided with a hole portion and a projectingportion having an opening, the opening communicating with the holeportion and being directed to a screw tightening direction of theelectrode.

As a second aspect of the present invention, a battery connection platecomprises: a plate body to be insulative and moldable; and a terminal tobe insert-molded in the plate body and to be screw-connected to anelectrode of a battery, wherein the plate body is provided with a pinportion and projections formed on both sides of the pin portion, theterminal is provided with a through hole to put the pin portiontherethrough, and the projections are arranged on both sides of theterminal, and wherein the terminal is secured to the plate body bymelting and transforming both of the pin portion and the projections.

As a third aspect of the present invention, a manufacturing method ofinsert-molding a terminal in a moldable insulative battery connectionplate comprises the steps of: forming a pin portion and projections onboth sides of the pin portion on the plate; forming a through hole toput the pin portion therethrough on the terminal; positioning theterminal between the projections; putting the pin portion through thethrough hole of the terminal; melting the pin portion and theprojection; and securing the terminal to the plate body by transformingthe pin portion and the projection.

As a fourth aspect of the present invention, a battery connection platecomprises: a plate body to be insulative and moldable; a terminal to beinsert-molded in the plate body; and a busbar, formed integrally withthe terminal and made of the same metal material as the terminal, to beinsert-molded in the plate body, wherein the busbar is formed bydouble-folding back the metal material.

As a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the structure with theabove fourth aspect, the terminal is connected to the busbar with anarrow portion.

As a sixth aspect of the present invention, a battery connection platecomprises: a plate body to be insulative and moldable; a terminal to beinsert-molded in the plate body; an electric wire to be connected to theterminal; a pair of guide walls provided on the plate body and eachhaving an insertion-fixing portion to hold the electric wire; and agroove portion formed between the pair of guide walls for arranging theelectric wire therein.

As a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the structure with theabove sixth aspect, the insertion-fixing portion is of a slit.

According to the above-described structure of the present invention, thefollowing advantages are provided.

(1) When the terminal having the through hole receiving themale-threaded electrode of a battery is tightened with a nut, becausethe opening of the projecting portion of the terminal faces thetightening direction of the nut so that the opening of the projectingportion brings about big resistance against a tightening torque actingon the terminal, turning of the terminal can be securely checked,whereby securing force of the terminal is strengthened, damage of theplate body due to position change and backrush of the terminal can beprevented, and bad influence such as external force to an electron partssuch as the circuit protection element mounted at a middle portion ofthe terminal cab be prevented. And, because the hole portioncommunicating with the opening can be small, decrease of a cross sectionarea of the terminal can be limited to the minimum, increase of theelectric resistance and deterioration of the mechanical strength can beprevented.

(2) The terminal is accurately positioned by means of the pin portion,and also the terminal can be tightly secured by melting the projectionand the pin portion and transforming them. And, because the narrow andlong terminal is accurately positioned and is insert-molded, both of theelectronic parts to be mounted on the middle portion of the terminal andthe wire connecting portion can be accurately positioned, therebyimproving quality of the product. Further, because the terminal istightly secured, turning of the terminal in tightening the electrode ofthe battery can be prevented.

(3) Because the terminal is set on the plate body, there is no danger ofan operator to touch the hot metal mold, workability can be improved andmanufacturing cost can be reduced.

(4) Because the busbar-integrated terminal is insert-molded, workingman-day can be reduced. And, the busbar is formed thicker than theterminal body by double-folding back a metal plate, electriccharacteristic and heat radiation characteristic of both of the busbarand the terminal body can be improved, thereby facilitating themanufacture and simultaneously reducing parts cost.

(5) Because the heat is hard to transmit toward the busbar by means ofthe narrow portion when the electronic parts is soldered to the terminalbody, soldering efficiency can be improved. On the contrary, because theheat is hard to transmit toward the terminal body from the busbar, i.e.from the battery, bad influence to the electronic parts mounted on theterminal body can be prevented.

(6) Because the electric wire is held provisionally by means of theinsertion-fixing portion of the guide wall, the pressure-welding work ofthe electric wire to the terminal can be facilitated and secured. And,because the electric wire, to which the terminal is connected, is fixedto the insertion-fixing portion of the guide wall, a tangle of theelectric wires can be prevented, thereby facilitating arrangement of theelectric wires. Further, because a plurality of electric wires can bearranged in the groove portion between the guide walls, arranging workof the electric wires can be facilitated.

(7) Because the electric wire is put in the slit, the electric wire canbe held securely.

The above and other objects and features of the present invention willbecome more apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a batteryconnection plate in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of a securingstructure of an electric terminal used in the battery connection plate;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing the terminal securing structure ofFIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing another embodiment of a terminalsecuring structure;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the terminal securing structure ofthe battery connection plate of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a state wherein the electricterminal of FIG. 4 is secured;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing an embodiment of abusbar-integrated terminal;

FIG. 8 is a side view showing the busbar-integrated terminal of FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is an enlarged perspective view showing a connecting portionbetween the busbar and a terminal body of the busbar-integrated terminalof FIG. 7;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view showing a holding structure of an electricwire connected to the battery connection plate of FIG. 1;

FIG. 11 is an exploded perspective view showing an example of aconventional battery connection plate;

FIG. 12 is an exploded perspective view showing another example of aconventional battery connection plate;

FIG. 13 is a perspective view showing a state before insert-molding theelectric terminal and the busbar of FIG. 12;

FIG. 14 is an exploded perspective view showing a state of mounting anelectronic parts onto the electric terminal of FIG. 12;

FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing a state of having insert-molded theelectric terminal of FIG. 13;

FIG. 16 is a perspective view showing a state of tightly-connecting theelectric terminal and the busbar of FIG. 13 to an electrode of abattery; and

FIG. 17 is a perspective view showing an electric terminal integrallyformed with a busbar with the same metal material.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described in furtherdetail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a battery connection plate in accordancewith the present invention.

This battery connection plate 1 has a plate body 2 of synthetic resin,i.e. of insulative, and a cover 4 pivotably provided on the plate body 2through a hinge 3. A busbar 9, an electric terminal 5 for voltagedetection, and an electric terminal 6 for power feeding, i.e. a feedingterminal, are integrally provided on the plate body 2 by means of theinsert-molding.

One piece of the busbar 9 is arranged under two neighboring circularholes 7 of the plate body 2, an electrically contacting portion 8 of theterminal 5 for voltage detection is arranged in one of the two circularholes 7, and the busbar 9 and the electrically contacting portion 8surface-contacts to each other. An electronic parts mounting portion 10located at a longitudinal middle portion of the terminal 5 is positionedinside a four-sided framed portion 11, and a wire connecting portion 12of the terminal 5 is positioned inside a rear framed portion 13continuing from the framed portion 11. Feeding terminals 6 in the sameshape as the terminal 5 are insert-molded in the plate body 2 at theboth ends thereof.

As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 5 for voltage detection consists of theelectrically contacting portion 8 having a through hole 14 for amale-threaded electrode (not illustrated) of a battery (notillustrated), a base plate portion 15 bendingly extending form theelectrically contacting portion 8, and a wire connecting portion (notillustrated) continuing behind from the base plate portion 15. Here,small holes around the through hole 14 are omitted in FIG. 2. The baseplate portion 15 consists of a front portion 16 continuing from theelectrically contacting portion 8, the electronic parts mounting portion10 being the intermediate portion, and a rear portion 17 continuing fromthe electronic parts mounting portion 10.

A projecting portion 18 as a whirl-stop is scratched up on the frontportion 16 of the base plate portion 15. This projecting portion (or ascratched-up portion) 18 is a first feature in the present embodiment.The projecting portion 18 is formed in a tetrahedron-like shape andconsists of two triangular wall portions 21 and a triangular opening 19facing in a tightening direction (i.e. an arrow Z2 direction) of theterminal 5. The opening 19 communicates with a small hole (a holeportion) 20 (FIG. 3) on the base plate portion 15. 22 in FIG. 2 is asmall hole to receive a lead terminal of electronic parts (notillustrated).

As shown in FIG. 3, upon insert-molding of the terminal 5 in the platebody 2 made of resin, the melted resin is filled up inside both of thesmall hole 20 and the projecting portion 18. After the resin hashardened, the male-threaded electrode of the battery (not illustrated)is put through the through hole 14 (FIG. 2) of the terminal 5 and istightened with a nut (not illustrated). At this time, though theterminal 5 receives a torque in the arrow Z2 direction, because theopening 19 of the projecting portion 18 stands against the resin with alarge area, the terminal 5 is prevented from turning, thereby preventingloosening or backrush of the terminal 5. That is, because the resin isfilled up inside the projecting portion 18 from the opening 19 to thesmall hole 20, securing force of the terminal 5 is enhanced.

Here, another projecting portion 18 may be formed in the rear portion 17of the base plate portion 15 (FIG. 2). In case that an electronic partsuch as a circuit protection element is connected to the intermediateportion 10, however, the projecting portion on the rear portion 17 isunnecessary because the intermediate portion 10 is cut off later. Inthis case, the rear portion 17 can be secured enough by means of theinsert-molding. The tightening torque can be sustained by the projectingportion 18 of the front portion 16, and excessive external force on theelectronic parts can be prevented.

The projecting portion 18 can also be applied to the feeding terminal 6(FIG. 1) and further to the terminal of the conventional batteryconnection plate (FIG. 12).

FIGS. 4-6 show another embodiment of a securing structure of a terminalfor voltage detection or of a feeding terminal; namely, show an exampleof a manufacturing method of a battery connection plate. Referring toFIG. 4, a pair of small holes (through holes) 28,29 are provided on afront portion 26 and on a rear portion 27 of a base plate portion 25,and pin portions 31,32 of a plate 30 of resin are inserted into each ofthe small holes 28,29 while completing setting of a terminal 24.Position of the terminal 24 is decided accurately by two pairs of pinportions 31,32.

The pin portions 31,32 are formed sufficiently longer than a thicknessof the base plate portion 25, and the ends of the pin portions 31,32projects high over the base plate portion 25. A pair of block-likeprojections 33,34 are provided on both sides of each of the pin portions31,32. The projections 33,34 are arranged closely to both edges of thebase plate portion 25. Length of the projections 33,34 is set almostequally to a length of the pin portions 31,32.

As shown in FIG. 5, the projections 33,34 and the pin portions 31,32 areintegrally formed with a plate 30 of resin. This plate 30 is, forexample, set inside a recess of a metal mold (not illustrated) and formsa part of the plate body (reference numeral 2 of FIG. 1, for example).

As shown in FIG. 6, the projections 33,34 and the pin portions 31,32 ofFIG. 4 melt with heat and cover a front portion 26 and a rear portion 27of the base plate portion 25 of the terminal 24. That is, theprojections 33,34 and the pin portions 31,32, are melted and connected.The base plate portion 25 is secured to the plate 30 by the projections33,34 and the pin portions 31,32. The terminal 25 is secured to theplate 30 tightly by the resin members 36,37, and a torque (the arrow Z2direction in FIG. 2) arisen at tightening the electrode is sustainedsecurely. According to the present embodiment, positioning and securingof the terminal 24 by means of the projections 33,34 and of the pinportions 31,32, member or material can be effectively use.

As a means to melt the projections 33,34 and the pin portions 31,32after having set the terminal 24 in the plate 30 of FIG. 5, a method topush an upper heated metal mold (not illustrated) down to theprojections 33,34 and the pin portions 31,32 or another method to applythe laser beam and the supersonic wave, which are not illustrated, tothe projections 33,34 and to the pin portions 31,32 are effective.

Because these heating methods do not require a lower metal mold, whichsupports the terminal 24, to be heated, there is no worry about anoperator to get scalded by touching the metal mold, thereby making workeasier and promoting cost saving. The structures of FIGS. 4-6 areeffective as a terminal securing method.

The busbar 9 is set on the electrically contacting portion 35 of theterminal 24 of FIG. 4, and the busbar 9 is insert-molded in the platebody 30 along with the electrically contacting portion 35. Theelectrically contacting portion 35 of the terminal 24 can be formedintegrally with the busbar 9 with the same metal material. This will bedescribed with the following embodiment.

FIGS. 7-9 show another embodiment of a terminal for voltage detection.

In this terminal 38, as shown in FIGS. 7-8, a busbar 39 and a terminalbody 40 are made of the same metal with the same thickness. The busbar39 is made of a metal plate having a turn-up portion 41 at the frontend, and the front edge of the terminal body 40 is integrally connectedto the rear end of an upper board portion 42 or of a lower board portion43 of the busbar 39.

Because the busbar 39 has a double thickness T2 of the terminal body 40having a thickness T1 (FIG. 8), the electric resistance or the heatradiation of each of the busbar 39 and the terminal body 40 can besuitably controlled in spite of using the same metal material. Theterminal body 40 can have an appropriate thickness meeting a diameter ofan electric wire to be connected thereto. Because the terminal 38 can beformed with the simple way of folding back the busbar 39 in two pieces,parts cost can be reduced in comparison with the conventional terminal(FIG. 17) formed with a board with a step.

As shown in FIG. 9, the terminal body 40 is connected to the busbar 39with a right and left pair of narrow portions 44,45. A width S1 of thenarrow portions 44,45 should be about ¼ of a width S2 of a base plateportion 46 of the terminal body 40. The terminal 38 can be set stable inthe metal mold (not illustrated) for the insert-molding with thisstructure. After having insert-molded the terminal 38, one of the narrowportions 45 can be cut off to reduce a cross section of the connectingportion, whereby wettability of the solder to be applied to connect anelectronic part (not illustrated) to a middle portion 47 (FIG. 7) of thebase plate portion 46 of the terminal body 40 is improved.

That is, the heat gets hard to escape toward the busbar 39 side throughthe narrow portion 44, thereby promoting heating-up of the base plateportion 46 (i.e. the middle portion 47). Reversely, even if the busbar39 gets hot with the heat from the battery, because the heat is hard totransmit to the terminal body 40 due to the narrow portion 44, theelectronic parts does not suffer bad influence from the heat.

Even if the pair of narrow portions 44,45 are just used without cuttingoff the narrow portion 45, the above effect can be expected. And, thenarrow portions 44,45 of the terminal body 40 can be connected to theupper board portion 42 of the busbar 39. Also, the base plate portion 46of the terminal body 40 can be provided with the securing means and thepositioning means applied to the previous embodiment (FIG. 2 and FIG.4).

In the present embodiment, however, because the busbar 39 is integrallyformed with the terminal body 40, the busbar 39 fully sustains thetightening torque of the electrode of the battery (not illustrated), andtherefore a torque does not act on the terminal body 40 only byinsert-molding the busbar 39 in a plate body of resin (reference numeral2 of FIG. 1, for example). Because position of the terminal body 40 isdecided according to the position of the busbar 39, the terminal body 40needs not to be positioned. However, in case that the narrow portions44,45 have been transformed and position of the terminal body 40deflects, the above positioning means is effective.

The terminal body 40 (FIG. 7) includes a base plate portion 46 and awire connecting portion 48 similarly to the above embodiment. And, thebase plate portion 46 is made up of a front portion, an intermediateportion 47 on which an electronic parts is to be mounted, and a rearportion on a side of the wire connecting portion 48. A signal line (notillustrated) is pressure-welded to the wire connecting portion 48.

In the embodiment of the battery connection plate 1 of FIG. 1, thesignal line 50 (FIG. 10) and the power feeder (not illustrated) arrangedon both sides of or on a side of the battery connection plate 1 are heldin guide walls 51,52 of the battery connection plate 1. The signal line(an electric wire) 50 and the power feeder are inserted into slits 53,54and provisionally held therein, and at that state of FIG. 10, endportions of the respective electric wires are pressure-welded to thewire connecting portions 12 of the terminals 5,6. The busbar 9 and theterminal 5 have been already insert-molded. The electric wires havingbeen provisionally held by the slits 53,54 are returned to the originalpositions after the pressure-welding of the respective terminals. Thisstructure is effective as a wiring method in the battery connectionplate 1.

The guide walls 51,52 are arranged oppositely to each other at a wireleading-out side of the plate body 2. The front guide wall 51 extends ina longitudinal direction of the plate body 2 orthogonally to the framedportion 13 positioned at the back of the terminal accommodating portion55 (FIG. 1) of the plate body 2, and the rear guide wall 52 stands atthe rear end of the plate body 2 in parallel with the front guide wall51, while forming a groove (a groove portion 56) to arrange a pluralityof electric wires between the walls 51,52. Here, the front and the backof the plate body 2 correspond to those of the terminal 5. The terminalaccommodating portion 55 has at least the front circular hole 7, themiddle framed portion 11, and the rear framed portion 13. The frontguide wall 51 extends over a full length of the plate body 2, and therear guide wall 52 is shorter than the front guide wall 51 by at least alength required for a space portion 57 provided at both rear sides ofthe feeding terminals 6.

Wire-inserting slits (i.e. an insertion-fixing portion) 53,54 are formedvertically on the guide walls 51,52 behind the terminals 5,6. The slits53,54 are arranged in a line. Slits 53,54 each are arranged with adetermined interval on the respective guide walls 51,52. Width of theslits 53,54 is almost equal to or a little smaller than the outsidediameter of the electric wire 50 so that the electric wire 50 is tightlyput between each of the slits 53,54, thereby facilitatingpressure-welding work of the electric wire 50 to each of the terminals5,6. When the terminals 5,6, to which the electric wires 50 arepressure-welded, are insert-molded, because the electric wires 50 areheld, position change of the terminals 5,6 can be prevented, therebyfacilitating the insert-molding of the terminals 5,6. Because theelectric wires 50 are arranged with a determined interval according tothe slits 53,54, a tangle of the electric wires 50 can be prevented andalso arranging work of the electric wires 50 is facilitated.

After the pressure-welding of the terminal, the electric wire 50 isremoved only from the slit 54 of the guide wall 52, is arranged in alongitudinal direction of the plate body 2 through the groove portion 56between the guide walls 51,52, and is led out from the opening 58 of thegroove portion 56. The electric wires 50 can be gathered up in the sameleading-out direction, whereby the plate body can be in good order.Because each of electric wires 50 is held by the slit 53 of the guidewall 51, bending work of the electric wire 50 in a right angle is easy.For example, a notch in a V-shape (not illustrated) can be formed inplace of each of the slits 53,54.

As shown in FIG. 1, a framed portion 60 for engaging the cover 4 isformed adjacently to the terminal accommodating portion 55, and anengaging projection 61 is provided inside the framed portion 60. Thebattery connection plate 1 is provided with three covers 4. In a middleportion of a depth direction of each of the cover 4, a pair of guidewalls 62 to engage the framed portion 60 and an engaging projection 63positioned between both of the guide walls 62 are formed. Upon closingthe cover 4, the terminal accommodating portion 55 and the grooveportion 56 which is an electric wire accommodating portion are blockedso that the terminals 5,6, the busbar 9, the electric wire 50, and theelectrode of the battery (not illustrated) are protected.

Although the present invention has been fully described by way ofexamples with reference to the accompanying drawings, it is to be notedthat various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilledin the art. Therefore, unless otherwise such changes and modificationsdepart from the scope of the present invention, they should be construedas being included therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A battery connection plate, comprising: an insulative and moldable plate body; a terminal arranged for insert-molding in the plate body; an electric wire arranged for connection to the terminal; a pair of parallel guide walls provided on the plate body in a transverse direction to the terminal, each guide wall having an insertion-fixing portion formed therein to tightly hold the electric wire; and a groove portion formed between the pair of guide walls for arranging the electric wire therein, wherein the electric wire passes the insertion-fixing portions in a longitudinal direction of the terminal in series.
 2. The battery connection plate as set forth in claim 1, wherein the insertion-fixing portion is a slit. 